Dr Maria Montessori

Education is the Best Weapon for Peace

"If we consider the awesome power and technical perfection of armaments, which people trust to protect them in war, we are forced to conclude that education will not become an armament capable of ensuring the security and progress of the peoples of the world until it has attained the same level of excellence and scientific development ……. I am merely saying that the true defence of mankind cannot be based on arms. Wars will always follow upon the other, and no people’s grace and prosperity can ever be assured until we trust in the great ‘armament for peace’ that education represents." Extract from an address given in Copenhagen on 22 May 1937.